Salt Lake City: Official Development News Thread - Part 3

[DCRes]

Originally Posted by Future Mayor

Did you mean 600 N?

Yes, 600 N, my bad

[Utaaah!]

Originally Posted by ToysNoiz

I absolutely agree. There really shouldn't be a campus right there.

A typical suburban campus ala Union Park would not befit DT Salt Lake; however, something along the lines of Amazon's South Lake Union campus would be a great addition to the city.


Source: Seattle Times


Source: Seattle Times

Then again, I have mixed feelings about Amazon's latest proposal:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-5758560...a-colossal-biospherelike-seattle-campus/

[jimmycdii]

I also think the Amazon model would work well. Here's an interesting article on it (mid way through the author includes a link to is review of Apple's campus as well):

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/jobs-and-economy/2012/03/how-amazon-got-urban-campus-right/1485/

Also, I know many of us love skyscrapers here (it's a skyscraper forum after all!). But I'd much rather see a pair of 10-15 story buildings than one 20-30 story building (or a group of mid rises vs. fewer high rises). The smaller buildings are less exciting and the skyline would suffer, but I think the actual experience on the ground would be better and more fine-grained. I feel like the expansive, empty feel of much of downtown a bigger weakness than a less-than-flashy skyline.

[Orlando]

I was looking at an architectural job posting and found this study for Salt Lake's gateway area. The Gateway area must have been a design competition. I wasn't able to find an easy way of posting the images. So, maybe someone else knows how and can post them. The design proposes to do the following:

In an effort to strengthen Salt Lake City's existing performance and exhibition venues as a recognized destination for cultural activities, Pfeiffer Partners prepared a comprehensive strategic plan that supports the expansion goals of arts and cultural institutions in coordination with proposed transportation improvements. The plan proposes to develop four cultural campuses visually linked through a well-defined way-finding system of landscape components, lighting, banners, and streetscape amenities. New arts facilities and programs, pedestrian connections, and mixed-use developments will enhance interaction among religious, educational, research, and cultural institutions. Recommendations include reuse of historic structures and existing properties.

[SLC Projects]

Originally Posted by Makid

I am not sure if anyone else saw this article this morning:

Wall Street West: How Salt Lake City became Goldman Sachs’ 4th largest global office
Finance » Bank’s Utah workforce has grown “exponentially” to 1,775.

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/money/56759646-79/goldman-lake-salt-office.html.csp





This next was almost hidden in the article:



This does lead some justification of the Boyer image of the Goldman Building on State Street. It also sounds like that if things keep progressing as they have been, it won't be to long before we hear more about this happening.

Also, a Campus generally means more than 1 building in the plans. So we might see a big change in the next few years.

I wonder how Goldman Sachs’ plans on going about their campus plans if they plan to develop their one building on State Street. Can't expand much into a campus when Boyer owns most if that block that's already develop. Unless Goldman Sachs’ plans to buy some of the buildings on that block, otherwise that will not be a good spot for a campus. If they want a campus they would need much more open land for development. A great block would be the parking lot between main, west temple, 400 S. and 500 S. that plan be plenty big enough to develop a few mid-high buildings.

[DMTower]

Latest on the Hyatt development.

[Orlando]

Since most of you rarely visit the Mountainwest Microbrew chitchat and also since Cirrus closed the irrelevant thread, I am providing a link to a very popular video on YouTube right now that features locations of downtown SLC, Provo, and the U. It's another cool parkour video:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=6249366&postcount=1103

[wrendog]

Originally Posted by Orlando

Since most of you rarely visit the Mountainwest Microbrew chitchat and also since Cirrus closed the irrelevant thread, I am providing a link to a wry popular video on YouTube right now that features locations of downtown SLC, Provo, and the U. It's another cool parkour video:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=6249366&postcount=1103

I saw that earlier and I was gonna ask, where is that beach at about the 2 minute mark?

[arkhitektor]

Originally Posted by wrendog

I saw that earlier and I was gonna ask, where is that beach at about the 2 minute mark?

It's Blackridge Pond in Herriman:

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=blackridg...=WBggUrOsFaSE2wWC3oCwDQ&ved=0CIwBELYDMAo

[John Martin]

Originally Posted by Orlando

Since most of you rarely visit the Mountainwest Microbrew chitchat and also since Cirrus closed the irrelevant thread, I am providing a link to a wry popular video on YouTube right now that features locations of downtown SLC, Provo, and the U. It's another cool parkour video:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=6249366&postcount=1103

Much better:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAhPaiajwDY&feature=c4-overview-vl&list=PL55F8711DC8CFEA13

[ToysNoiz]

Originally Posted by John Martin

Much better:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAhPaiajwDY&feature=c4-overview-vl&list=PL55F8711DC8CFEA13

Mmmm.... downtown's lookin' —.

[scottharding]

On the topic of awesome, video game-themed videos filmed in downtown SLC, check this one out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAhPaiajwDY

[Orlando]

That's another cool parkour video in SLC. But, why don't you guys carry this off-topic stuff in the Mountainwest Microbrew chit chat thread, that I linked my original parkour video post to?

[jedikermit]

Not sure if this should go in SLC or Microbrew, but the Tribune puts it in the money section:

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/money/56799955-79/salt-lake-comic-con.html.csp

Salt Lake is poised to challenge first-year comic con records
By Matthew Piper | The Salt Lake Tribune
First Published Aug 29 2013 02:58 pm • Last Updated Aug 29 2013 07:07 pm

New York. Denver. Chicago. Los Angeles. When all the tickets are stubbed for the inaugural Salt Lake Comic Con, the list of first-time North American cons with greater attendance is likely to be short. If there’s a list at all.

Although there’s no central source of comic book convention gates, Salt Lake Comic Con founder Dan Farr has been told that New York Comic Con had the biggest first year with 33,000 attendees. As of Thursday, Farr’s event had sold 23,000 tickets, and he thinks 40,000 is a low-end estimate for the three-day festival that begins Sept. 5 at the Salt Palace and includes guests like William Shatner and Adam West.

"We’re kind of in the euphoria stage," said Farr. "Everyone in the nation will be taking notice of Salt Lake."

Farr initially thought that Salt Lake would draw between 5,000 and 10,000. He revised that range to 10,000 to 20,000 after seeing the interest generated on the Salt Lake Comic Con Facebook page, but one celebrity’s manager urged him to be realistic. "He said 10,000 was generous."

Now, Farr has set his sights on Denver, which billed itself as the second-biggest comic con open ever in 2012 with 27,700. He’s sure Salt Lake will beat that. But Farr believes Denver’s second-year number, 60,000, is already attainable this year.

Should Salt Lake draw a more conservative 40,000, it would be one of the top 15 box-office hauls for a North American fan convention. The biggest convention, San Diego Comic-Con, draws more than 100,000, as do New York and Toronto. There is a steep dropoff after that, however, with Seattle ranking fourth — according to a list provided by Farr — with 64,000 in 2012.

Farr said there is also a question of how other conventions total their attendance. He’s measuring unique visitors, meaning that those who buy a three-day pass are counted once. It is also worth noting that many conventions run through Sunday, so Salt Lake City — which does not, due to the heavily Mormon population — is actually at a disadvantage.

Forty thousand would make Salt Lake Comic Con the biggest convention in the state of Utah. Both Outdoor Retailer conventions together drew 45,000 in 2012, according to the Governor’s Office of Economic Development, although it is likely a more valuable asset due to its lure for out-of-state guests.

"Right now it is," Farr said. "I don’t know that that’s always going to be the case."


BTW, I'll be there off and on all three days--probably the whole day Friday and Saturday. With a ginormous LEGO display. Because that's how my people roll.

[jedikermit]

Oh, and in related news:

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/86558...among-list-of-top-50-meeting-cities.html

Salt Lake City among list of top 50 meeting cities

By Jasen Lee, Deseret News
Published: Friday, Aug. 30 2013 2:50 p.m. MDT
Updated: 5 minutes ago

SALT LAKE CITY — For the first time, Salt Lake City ranks among the top cities nationwide for meetings and conventions.

A new report issued by Cvent, a cloud-based enterprise event management platform, announced that Salt Lake City was ranked No. 47 on its list of the top 50 cities for meetings and events in the United States. The ranking was based on meeting and event booking activity in the Cvent Supplier Network.

Topping the list this year was Orlando, Fla., at No. 1, Chicago at No. 2, while Las Vegas ranked third. Salt Lake made the list largely because of its proximity to a major airport and increased activity in the network.

“This ranking reflects our entire community's commitment to the meetings industry and will hopefully encourage even more groups to consider Salt Lake as a destination for their corporate meetings and events, which are key contributors to our local and state economy,” said Scott Beck, president and CEO of Visit Salt Lake. "As we develop our product that (becomes) better known and better perceived by the planners, then we will continue to move up the list."


There's quite a bit more at the link above, including cities that have been bumped from the list.

With a convention center hotel, we'd be climbing up that list pretty darn fast...

[scottharding]

This article from the Tribune is consistent with my experience. I don't know why, but the homeless/drug/crime situation in and around Pioneer Park, which had seemed to really improve the last couple of years, has stormed back worse than I've ever seen it.

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/56785448-78/park-homeless-pioneer-area.html.csp

I'm curious what my fellow forumers think could be the cause(s) and what might be solutions. It doesn't seem that the city officials have an clue, so it's major speculation on our part, but I do wonder.

[John Martin]

Drug transactions dropped significantly when the city installed security cameras. Just putting A and B together, perhaps some realized that the cameras don't really accomplish much.

[SLC Projects]

Maybe the city needs to build a mini police station across the street from the park.

[Just A Thought]

Originally Posted by John Martin

Drug transactions dropped significantly when the city installed security cameras. Just putting A and B together, perhaps some realized that the cameras don't really accomplish much.

Sadly business are closing more frequently than ever and moving to east downtown. Gateway does not appear to have a game plan for handling the street drug cycle of begging and dealing. Which is a shame as they have the biggest clout in the area. I also know of at least two other business that are close to skid row that are also considering moving.

The Salt Lake Redevelopment seems to have brought almost everything in the area, so private business does not even have much opportunity to compete and thus change the area.

There are no facilities in the area that are useful for tourists, residence or local business, i.e decent grocery stores, pharmacies, etc..

Pioneer park is beautiful but in reality belongs to the homeless and dealers.

The whole of West Downtown (west of West Temple) seems to be in a permanent stranglehold of government and private land bankers, mentally unstable street dwellers and drug dealers. Amongst this there are some wonderful positive businesses that do try and keep the area positive. Rose coffee, Oasis sound and stage, a number of architects and design companies.

The fact that this is the only full time permanent decent size homeless shelter for 400 miles in every direction is only really useful and beneficial for the drug dealers. As it helps keep their overheads and costs down.

The facility was built to handle around 400 homeless max, currently they are at around 1200 I believe.

Its an extraordinarily complex problem that the city almost seems to have intentionally created for themselves.

The only positive things happening west of West Temple is the Hotel development south of the arena and the new Gateway apartments. And for a city thats supposedly booming that seems very little for such a huge area.

The new Trax/rail hub is great, but its such a foul area, with absolutely no investment. It appears almost as if the area is completely valueless.

My thoughts here are my own, and I encourage people to research this further.

The sooner the city can encourage tourists, residence and business owners to utilize that area to its true potential and share the streets with the homeless the better.

[ToysNoiz]

I went DT this evening to take some photos for my photography class. thought I'd share some with you all. Enjoy.